XSEED: Corpse Party is a “horror adventure”, not a visual novel

“In the broadest terms, Corpse Party is a horror adventure game,” XSEED localisation specialist Tom Lipschultz explained in a post on the US PlayStation Blog.

“Many have posited that Corpse Party plays out like a visual novel, but that’s really not the case. While some scenes (such as the unlockable ‘Extra Chapters’) consist purely of dialogue-driven cinematics, most of the game is fully interactive, allowing you to walk around and explore Heavenly Host Elementary as you see fit, carefully examining objects and piecing together the sordid history of the school at every turn.”

While the game contains no combat, players will encounter hostiles and hazards and find ways to overcome them.

“The wrong decision will either immediately or eventually lead you down a path toward one of the game’s vast multitudes of ‘Wrong Ends,’ or bad endings,” Lipschultz warned.

“In one such instance, getting caught by your pursuer means being shoved into a shallow grave and slowly buried alive as you listen to one of the game’s strongest characters suffocating and retching under endless shovelfuls of dirt, begging for his life for almost five solid minutes before the last gasp of breath escapes his mouth and the ‘Wrong End’ music plays. Wrong, indeed!”

Corpse Party, which began life as an amateur Japanese effort before winning enough acclaim to earn a professional PSP release and English localisation, features a cast of nine, and tells the story of their attempts to survive the haunted school building, told across five chapters. There are 80 corpses to find at the party, three good endings and 24 “wrong” ones.

The game’s gruesome 2D sprite art has been the focus of much attention, but XSEED is also boasting binaural sound for a 3D effect as well as Japanese voice acting. Corpse Party arrives on the US PlayStation Network in northern autumn.